Webtoon Spotlight

Spotlight#172: You and I Are Polar Opposites

Have you ever heard of the phrase opposites attract? If so, then You and I are Polar Opposites by  Kōcha Agasawa is an excellent story to spotlight today.

Summary

Miyu Suzuki has always been popular due to her poppy fashion and bubbly personality. Despite always having eyes on her, she kept them glued on one particular subject: Yusuke Tani. Serving almost a perfect foil to her, Tani is a stubbornly blunt guy who always looks colder than he seems.

What was once adamant admiration for his brutal honesty quickly grew into love for Suzuki as she eventually confessed her feelings to him. To the surprise of most, Tani reciprocates, lighting the match for a relationship between two peeps who couldn't be more different if they tried.

Characters

Miyu: Our sickening sweet half of this black and white cookie, Miyu, is an incredibly thoughtful, excitable, supportive, and sociable girl. Unfortunately, this does lead Miyu to be often way too worried about what other people think and overcompensate, hence why she loves Tani's honesty.

Tani: The more blunt and proper of the pair, Tani is approachable and hard to read. Combined with his honest and content nature, it often leads to Tani being much colder than he is, which is why he values Suzuki so much, as she represents the push he needs to be more about feelings he may never have considered.

Azuma: One of Suzuki's best friends, Azuma maintains a cool girl persona with sociability, which matches Suzuki. The problem is that due to past experiences with previous friend groups, Azuma often feels like a third wheel who doubts her social standing amongst friends. However, things become a little better through her connections with fellow stick-in-the-muds like Taira.

Taira: Azuma's opposite, Taira is an introverted persistent who always tries to keep a low profile. He sees the worst in most people and situations and would rather not be bothered. When he gets his head out of his ass, though, he can be a rather supportive friend.

Yamada: Barreling in like a hurricane, Yamada is another extra extrovert with nothing going up on stares. His simple-mindedness does mean he pursues and likes people for arbitrary reasons. This bravery can be a blessing as it often means he can cut through unnecessary misunderstandings when he catches them.

Nishi: An anxious young girl, Nishi usually keeps her head to the ground, but when she crosses paths with Yamada, she gets thrown out the window. She still has a lot of work to do to be as brave as her peers, but she's still making her way.

Summary

God, I needed a series to replace the hole Horimiya left behind, and I'm glad I found it. You and I, Polar Opposites, get the ball rolling incredibly quickly by having Suzuki and Tani get together in the first chapter. This means most of the bread and butter of the pairing is from them finding out more about the relationship.

When I first read the title, I fully expected our two mc's to constantly butt heads with one another in favor of some incredibly out-there jokes. Instead, the reality was a lot sweeter. Suzuki and Tani's differences are precisely what they like in each other, and even if it causes some friction, this same friction pushes them into new avenues. Even if we still got to deal with the trademark but ever-charming young love miscommunications and tiptoeing over what their relationship is.

They both would've gone along just fine if they had never crossed paths, but life becomes richer together. Of course, if you're not a fan of the romance in the doki doki romance (seriously, why are you here), then you'll like the character interactions.

Agawasa has a very cute and cartoony art style, which leads to cutesy expressions and backdrops. The best showings of this lie within the beautiful colored cover pages we often get in between chapters and the brief colored objects we get to see characters interact with.

Still, the moe wouldn't be half as potent without the characters occupying it. Tani and Suzuki get plenty of shine, but we get a well-rounded cast of characters when the spotlight is off them together. Not only do Azuma, Taria, Nishi, and Yamada add to a more rich school setting, but they also develop into pretty nice pairs themselves.

All of this adds to the title premise's overall message. "You and I are Polar Opposites, isn't that beautiful?" While safe zones are essential, taking a step on a path you wouldn't usually take could lead to something great. For better or worse, you'll never know if you don't take that step.

Epilogue

You and I Polar Opposites is one of the most refreshing romcoms I read for a minute. Despite being relatively new, the book has gained a big audience, which I hope can get some form of adaptation or bigger notoriety. Until then, we got to keep the spotlight moving ever forward as we catapulted to wherever the spotlight took us forward.

Like